vol.7, no.3, pp.239–249, september 2013 doi 10.1007/s40069

Effect of Relative Levels of Mineral Admixtures on Strengthof Concrete with Ternary Cement Blend

Kanchan Mala1),*, A. K. Mullick2), K. K. Jain1), and P. K. Singh3)

(Received October 14, 2012, Accepted July 29, 2013)

Abstract: In the present scenario to fulfill the demands of sustainable construction, concrete made with multi-blended cement

system of OPC and different mineral admixtures, is the judicious choice for the construction industry. Silica fume (SF) and fly ash

(FA) are the most commonly used mineral admixtures in ternary blend cement systems. Synergy between the contributions of both

on the mechanical properties of the concrete is an important factor. This study reports the effect of replacement of OPC by fly ash

(20, 30, 40 and 50 % replacement of OPC) and/or silica fume (7 and 10 %) on the mechanical properties of concrete like

compressive strength and split tensile strength, with three different w/b ratio of 0.3, 0.4 and 0.45. The results indicate that, as the

total replacement level of OPC in concrete using ternary blend of OPC ? FA ? SF increases, the strength with respect to control

mix increases up to certain replacement level and thereafter decreases. If the cement content of control mixes at each w/b ratio is

kept constant, then as w/b ratio decreases, higher percentage of OPC can be replaced with FA ? SF to get 28 days strength

comparable to the control mix. A new method was proposed to find the efficiency factor of SF and FA individually in ternary blend

cement system, based on principle of modified Bolomey’s equation for predicting compressive strength of concrete using binary

blend cement system. Efficiency factor for SF and FA were always higher in ternary blend cement system than their respective

binary blend cement system. Split tensile strength of concrete using binary and ternary cement system were higher than OPC for a

given compressive strength level.

Keywords: silica fume, fly ash, binary blend, ternary blend, synergic effect, efficiency factor.

1. Introduction

The scarcity of natural raw materials, depleting energyresources, problems of disposal of waste materials and glo-bal warming due to emissions of green house gases are thelong-term results of rapid industrialization. Every industrytries its best to combat and minimizes these global problems.In concrete constructions, the primary route is to reduce thecontent of ordinary Portland cement (OPC) in concrete. Theinclusion of mineral admixtures like fly ash, silica fume,granulated blast furnace slag, rice-husk ash, metakaolin, etc.as partial replacement of OPC helps in this effort.For replacing high volume of OPC from concrete ternary

blend cement system is used where OPC is replaced by twodifferent mineral admixtures—one slow reactive mineraladmixture like fly ash, blast furnace slag, etc. and otherhighly reactive mineral admixture like silica fume,

metakaolin, etc. Fly ash and silica fume are the most com-monly used two mineral admixtures. When OPC is replacedwith fly ash the rate of strength gain of concrete is slower atearly age. This limits its use in concrete where early strengthis desirable. To overcome this problem, ternary blend ofOPC, fly ash and silica fume is used. Addition of silica fumeincreases early strength of concrete by formation of sec-ondary C–S–H gel at early stages due to fast pozzolanicreaction. The synergic effect of these materials in ternaryblend cement system enhances mechanical properties as wellas makes the resultant concrete durable (Mullick 2007;Kumar and Kaushik 2003; Radlinski and Olek 2012; Isaiaet al. 2003). Ternary blend of SF and FA reduces therequirement of dose of superplasticizer for the same work-ability with respect to OPC concrete and concrete usingbinary blend of silica fume (Mullick 2007; Goyal et al.2008) and hence reduces cost.In India, problem of fly ash disposal is going to be critical,

due to expansion of number and capacity of thermal powerplants to meet the increasing demand of electricity. Con-siderable researches (Radlinski and Olek 2012; Isaia et al.2003; Goyal et al. 2008; Hariharan et al. 2011; Thomas et al.1999; Bouzoubaa et al. 2002) have been carried out toinvestigate the effect of replacement of 20 to 30 % of OPCwith FA and SF but higher replacement level of OPC internary blend cement system is still needed to investigateintensively. The addition of silica fume with fly ash was

1)Department of Civil Engineering, Jaypee University of

Engineering and Technology, Guna, India.

*Corresponding Author; E-mail: [email protected])National Council for Cement and Building Material,

Ballabgarh, India.3)Cement Research Development Centre, Jaypee

University of Engineering and Technology, Guna, India.

Copyright � The Author(s) 2013. This article is published

with open access at Springerlink.com

International Journal of Concrete Structures and MaterialsVol.7, No.3, pp.239–249, September 2013DOI 10.1007/s40069-013-0049-9ISSN 1976-0485 / eISSN 2234-1315

239

found to increase the compressive strength of concrete atearly age and improve chloride ion permeability, whencompared to concrete made with fly ash alone (Mullick2007; Hariharan et al. 2011; Thomas et al. 1999). It has beenfound that there was no significant improvement in concretecontaining 8 % SF and 40 % FA in the range of w/b ratio of0.34–0.4 but it was advantageous for superplasticizer dos-age, plastic shrinkage, drying shrinkage and chloride ionpermeability (Bouzoubaa et al. 2002; A.and Malhotra 1998).For concrete using binary blend of OPC ? SF and for aternary combination of OPC ? FA ? SF that has lesseramount of fly ash in it, 7 days of initial water curing wasfound to be necessary and sufficient to explore the pozzo-lanic activity but for mixes having larger percentage of flyash, a long initial moist curing period was recommended(Goyal et al. 2008).The tensile strength of concrete is more significant in the

design of highway and airfield pavements, concrete dams,etc. where failure occurs due to cracking of concrete asstresses exceed the tensile strength of concrete. The tensilestrength of traditional concrete were investigated vastly butmore investigations are required to study the effect of usingdifferent mineral admixtures in blended concrete on tensilestrength, especially of concrete using ternary blend cementsystem (Neville 2000; Selim 2008).In this study effect of replacement level of OPC by FA in

concrete using binary blend cement system and by FA ? SFin concrete using ternary blend cement system on com-pressive strength and split tensile strength at different w/bratio was investigated. Based on Bolomey’s equation, amathematical model is presented to evaluate the efficiencyfactor for SF and FA in concrete using ternary blend ofFA ? SF. The results are postulated to reflect the synergybetween the two mineral admixtures. The relationship

between split tensile strength and compressive strength wasestablished by regression analysis and compared to the otherempirical relationships.

2. Materials Used

2.1 BindersOPC 53 grade conforming to IS:12269 (IS 1987) was

used. Low calcium fly ash was collected locally fromChabbra Thermal Power Plant, Motipura Chowki. DensifiedSilica fume, Grade 920D, conforming to ASTM C 1240 andIS: 15388 (IS 2003) was obtained from Elkem (India),Mumbai. The chemical properties of cement, fly ash andsilica fume are given in Table 1.

2.2 AggregatesLocally available crushed aggregate of maximum size

20 mm were used. River sand conforming to zone III of IS:383 (IS 1970) was used.

2.3 SuperplasticizerPCE based superplasiticizer Glenium 141 Suretec from

BASF chemicals was used for current study. It is a lightbrown colored liquid complying with requirements of IS9103–1999 (IS 1999) and ASTM–C494 Type G. The spe-cific gravity of superplasticiser was 1.07 and solid contentwas not less than 25 percent by mass.

3. Mix Proportions

To study the effect of relative increase of fly ash and silicafume, three w/b ratios were selected 0.3, 0.4 and 0.45. This

Table 1 Physical and chemical properties of OPC, fly ash and silica fume.

Description OPC Fly ash Silica Fume

Physical properties

Specific gravity 3.14 2.2 2.2

Blaine’s fineness, m2/kg 288 – –

Percentage retained on 45l sieve – 17.5 8

Chemical properties

Calcium oxide, CaO, % 61.87 3.36 3.94

Silicon dioxide, SiO2, % 23.14 61.72 86.67

Aluminum oxide, Al2O3, % 5.84 24.12 2.14

Ferric oxide, Fe2O3, % 4.16 5.11 3.31

Sulfur trioxide, SO3, % 1.76 0.30 0.58

Magnesium oxide, MgO, % 1.33 0.40 0.61

Potassium oxide, K2O, % 0.58 – –

Sodium oxide, Na2O, % 0.19 – –

Loss on ignition, % 1.32 1.49 1.94

240 | International Journal of Concrete Structures and Materials (Vol.7, No.3, September 2013)

will cover the range of strength from high to medium. Thetotal quantity of binder was kept constant i.e. 450 kg/m3 forall w/b ratios. Control mix, two mixes using binary blend ofOPC ? SF (7 and 10 % replacement by weight), four mixesusing binary blend of OPC ? FA (20, 30, 40 and 50 % byweight) and eight mixes using ternary blend of OPC ?

FA ? SF (total OPC replacement of 20, 30, 40 and 50 % byweight) were adopted for each w/b ratio and in total 45mixes were cast, whose description are given in Table 2.Keeping the mass of coarse aggregate constant for each

w/b ratio, mass of fine aggregate was adjusted for increasein volume of concrete due to inclusion of SF and FA.Details of the control mixes with w/b ratio of 0.3, 0.4 and0.45 were given in Table 3. OPC content was kept constantfor each control mix, so that same quantity of Ca(OH)2 isavailable for reaction with mineral admixtures for all w/bratios tested. Superplasticizer doses were adjusted for eachmix to result in slump of 100 ± 20 mm. Compressivestrength was tested on cube specimens of 100 mm size andsplit tensile test was conducted on cylindrical specimens of100 mm diameter and 200 mm height according to IS:5816(IS 1999).

OPC, FA, SF, coarse aggregate and fine aggregate weremixed dry for 60s. in a pan mixer. Then 75 % of water wasadded and again mixed for 60s. Required dose of superp-lasticizer was added to the balance 25 % water. This waterwas added at the end and the concrete mixed for another 30s.Concrete was poured into the moulds and compacted onvibration table. Specimens were cast in triplicate for eachtest and demoulded after 24 h of casting. They were curedunder water till the day of testing. Compressive strength wasmeasured at the ages of 7, 28 and 56 days. Split tensilestrength was measured at the ages of 7 and 28 days.

4. Results and Discussions

4.1 Superplasticizer DosageThe superplasticizer dosage required for obtaining

100 ± 20 mm slump for all control mixes, binary blendcement mixes and ternary blend cement mixes for differentw/b ratio of 0.3, 0.4 and 0.45 are given in Table 4.From the results, it is clear that SP dosages were higher in

concrete using binary blend of OPC ? SF with respect to

Table 2 Description of different mixes used.

Total binderreplacement %

Mix ID atw/b = 0.3

Mix ID atw/b = 0.4

Mix ID atw/b = 0.45

OPC (%) FA (%) SF (%)

Control 0 M1 M2 M3 100 0 0

Binary blend

Cement mixes

20 M1F20 M2F20 M3F20 80 20 0

30 M1F30 M2F30 M3F30 70 30 0

40 M1F40 M2F40 M3F40 60 40 0

50 M1F50 M2F50 M3F50 50 50 0

07 M1S7 M2S7 M3S7 93 0 7

10 M1S10 M2S10 M3S10 90 0 10

Ternary blend

Cement mixes

20 M1F13S7 M2F13S7 M3F13S7 80 13 7

30 M1F23S7 M2F23S7 M3F23S7 70 23 7

40 M1F33S7 M2F33S7 M3F33S7 60 33 7

50 M1F43S7 M2F43S7 M3F43S7 50 43 7

20 M1F10S10 M2F10S10 M3F10S10 80 10 10

30 M1F20S10 M2F20S10 M3F20S10 70 20 10

40 M1F30S10 M2F30S10 M3F30S10 60 30 10

50 M1F40S10 M2F40S10 M3F40S10 50 40 10

Table 3 Description of control mixes for different w/b ratio.

w/b ratio OPC (kg/m3) Water (kg/m3) Fly ash (kg/m3) Silica fume(kg/m3)

Coarse agg.MSA 20 mm

(kg/m3)

Coarse agg.MSA 10 mm

(kg/m3)

Fine agg.(kg/m3)

0.3 450 135 0 0 849 566 548

0.4 450 180 0 0 795 530 513

0.45 450 202.5 0 0 768 512 495

International Journal of Concrete Structures and Materials (Vol.7, No.3, September 2013) | 241

Table

4Dosa

geofSuperplasticizerin

%weightoftotalbinder.

Mix

type

Percentagereplacem

ent

ofOPC

Mix

with

w/b

=0.3

SPdo

se(%

)Mix

with

w/b

=0.4

SPdo

se(%

)Mix

with

w/b

=0.45

SPdo

se(%

)

Con

trol

mix

0M1

2.00

M2

0.25

M3

0.15

Binaryblendof

OPC

?FA

20MIF20

1.00

M2F

200.10

M3F

200.05

30M1F

300.65

M2F

300.10

M3F

300.05

40M1F

400.60

M2F

400.05

M3F

400.00

50M1F

500.50

M2F

500.00

M3F

500.00

Binaryblendof

OPC

?SF

7M1S

72.20

M2S

70.30

M3S

70.20

10M1S

102.30

M2S

100.40

M3S

100.25

Ternary

blendof

OPC

?7%SF

?FA

20M1S

7F13

1.50

M2F

13S7

0.30

M3F

13S7

0.15

30M1S

7F23

0.70

M2F

23S7

0.15

M3F

23S7

0.10

40M1S

7F33

0.60

M2F

33S7

0.10

M3F

33S7

0.05

50M1S

7F43

0.60

M2F

43S7

0.05

M3F

43S7

0.00

Ternary

blendof

OPC

?10

%SF

?FA

20M1S

10F10

1.50

M2F

10S10

0.40

M3F

10S10

0.25

30M1S

10F20

0.80

M2F

20S10

0.20

M3F

20S10

0.20

40M1S

10F30

0.75

M2F

30S10

0.15

M3F

30S10

0.10

50M1S

10F40

1.70

M2F

40S10

0.10

M3F

40S10

0.05


control mix, but it was significantly reduced in concreteusing binary blend of OPC ? FA at all w/b ratios. SPdosages for concrete using ternary blend of OPC ?

FA ? SF were also lesser with respect to control mix andbinary blend of OPC ? SF, but higher than binary blend of

OPC ? FA. This is due to spherical particles of FA whichact as small ball bearings and compensate the higher SPdemand which arises due to inclusion of SF with very highspecific surface area in ternary blend cement system (Goyalet al. 2008).

Fig. 1 Effect of replacement of OPC by fly ash on 28 days compressive strength at different w/b ratio.

Fig. 2 Effect of replacement of OPC by silica fume on 28 days compressive strength at different w/b ratio.

Fig. 3 28 days compressive strength of binary and ternary mixes at w/b = 0.3.


4.2 Compressive Strength4.2.1 Compressive Strength of Concrete Using

Binary Blend CementThe graph between FA replacement level and compressive

strength is plotted for all w/b ratios at the age of 28 days forconcrete using binary blend of OPC ? FA in Fig. 1.It indicates that when OPC is replaced with fly ash, the

strength decreases with respect to control mix for all w/bratios (Siddique 2004). As the w/b ratio increases the per-centage reduction in strength is more for same replacementlevel. For w/b ratio of 0.3, 0.4 and 0.45, at 20 % replacementlevel reduction in strength with respect to control mix is9.71, 11.76 and 12.88 % respectively but at 50 % replace-ment level the reduction is 27.22, 43.66 and 51.64 %respectively. The reduction in strength is comparatively lowat w/b ratio of 0.3 and higher at w/b ratio of 0.4 and 0.45. Atlower w/b ratios, the contribution to strength by the fly ashwas higher than in the mixes prepared with higher w/b ratios(Poon et al. 2000). This may be due to filler effect of fineparticles of fly ash which densify the matrix and improvedthe interfacial bond between paste and aggregate.The graph between SF replacement level and compressive

strength is also plotted for all w/b ratios at the age of 28 daysas shown in Fig. 2. It shows that as the percentagereplacement level of OPC with SF increases, the strengthincrease for all w/b ratios. It attributes to fast pozzolanicreaction at early age and filler effect of SF (Erdem and Kırca2008).

Fig. 4 28 days compressive strength of binary and ternarymixes at w/b = 0.4.

Fig. 5 28 days compressive strength of binary and ternarymixes at w/b = 0.45.

Table 5 Relative strength gain in strength of ternary blend of OPC ? 7 % SF ? FA cement system with respect to control mix andbinary mix of OPC ? FA cement system at the age of 28 days.

w/b = 0.3 w/b = 0.4 w/b = 0.45

% Rep. OPC % Gain in strength of(OPC ? FA ? 7 % SF) w.r.t.

% Gain in strength of(OPC ? FA ? 7 % SF) w.r.t.


Control mix (%) OPC ? FA (%) Control mix (%) OPC ? FA (%) Control mix (%) OPC ? FA (%)

20 6.42 16.13 5.38 17.14 5.90 18.78

30 3.80 20.96 1.52 23.99 -19.68 7.53

40 0.99 24.20 -25.82 3.23 -39.32 3.44

50 -23.76 3.46 -42.23 1.44 -44.83 6.81

Table 6 Relative strength gain in strength of ternary blend of OPC ? 10 %SF ? FA cement system with respect to control mixand binary mix of OPC ? FA cement system at the age of 28 days.

% Rep. OPC w/b = 0.3 w/b = 0.4 w/b = 0.45




Control mix (%) OPC ? FA (%) Control mix (%) OPC ? FA (%) Control mix (%) OPC ? FA (%)

20 16.19 25.90 10.13 21.89 2.97 15.85

30 8.69 25.85 1.30 23.77 -24.72 2.49

40 3.32 26.52 -16.77 12.28 -41.15 1.62

50 -22.35 4.87 -42.98 0.68 -49.99 1.65


4.2.2 Compressive Strength of Concrete UsingTernary Blend CementIn the present study, concrete mixes using binary blend of

OPC ? FAwere converted into concrete mixes using ternaryblend cement system by substituting FA with either 7 % or10 % SF. The trend between compressive strength at 28 daysfor different levels of replacement of OPC, by combination ofFA and 0, 7 or 10 % SF are shown in Figs. 3, 4 and 5 for w/bratio of 0.3, 0.4 and 0.45 respectively.The graphs indicate that the compressive strength with

respect to control mix increases first and then decreases aftercertain percentage of replacement level of OPC for all w/b

ratios. When w/b ratio is 0.3 the strength of concrete usingternary blend cement system are higher than control mix upto total binder replacement of 40 %. Whereas for 0.4 and0.45 strength concrete using ternary blend cement system arehigher than control mix up to total binder replacement of 30and 20 % respectively. This indicates that as w/b ratiodecreases higher percentage of OPC can be replaced withmineral admixtures to get strength comparable to controlmix. In the other word as w/b ratio increases, the amount ofOPC reduction decreases to get strength comparable tocontrol mix in concrete using ternary blend system. Thismay be due to larger size of pores at higher w/b ratio whichare not reduced considerably due to formation of additionalC–S–H gel and filler effect of finer materials.Inclusion of SF in cement system increase the strength of

concrete at early stage and increase the strength significantlyof the concrete mixes, using binary blend of OPC ? FA. Thepercentage gain in strength of concrete mixes ofOPC ? 7 %SF ? FA and OPC ? 10 %SF ? FA withrespect to control mix and with respect to concrete mixes ofOPC ? FA at the age of 28 days are tabulated in Tables 5 and6 respectively for all w/b ratios tested. Results indicate thatstrength of concrete using ternary blend system is alwayshigher than concrete using binary blend of OPC ? FA,whether gain in strength is more significant (at lowerreplacement level) or marginal (at higher replacement level).In the other words, ternary blends of OPC ? SF ? FAcompensate the loss of strength of binary blends of

Fig. 6 Compressive strength of concrete at 7 days and56 days at w/b = 0.3.



Fig. 9 Development of compressive strength of ternary blendmixes with age at w/b = 0.3.

Fig. 10 Development of compressive strength of ternaryblend mixes with age at w/b = 0.4.


OPC ? FA (Kazim 2012). This is due to higher efficiency ofSF as pozzolana, formation of additional C–S–H gel at earlyage, better particle packaging and strengthening of interfacialzone (Isaia et al. 2003; Thanongsak et al. 2010).The graphs between compressive strength at 7 and 56 days

versus percentage OPC replacement by SF and FA forconcrete mixes using OPC ? FA, OPC ? 7 %SF ? FA andOPC ? 10 %SF ? FA are plotted for w/b ratio of 0.3, 0.4and 0.45 in Figs. 6, 7 and 8 respectively.From the graphs, it is clear that only 20 % replacement

level with 10 % SF gives higher compressive strength thancontrol mix for all w/b ratios at 7 days. This indicates thathigher replacement level more than 20 % is not desirable internary blend cement system, where early strength isrequired.However, it is clear that if early strength is not the barrier,

it is possible to produce a high strength concrete with acompressive strength value of 50 MPa with 20–50 % FAreplacements with adopting lower w/b ratio (w/b\ 0.4). Theresults also indicated that where early strength is not criticalthen it is possible to get the same strength concrete withadopting a mix with lower w/b ratio and higher replacementlevel of OPC with SF ? FA, instead of adopting a mix withhigher w/b ratio and lower replacement level. For example,for making concrete having 60 Mpa strength at 28 days, itcan be achieved by using 50 % replacement level of OPC atw/b ratio of 0.3, instead of using 30 % replacement level ofOPC at w/b ratio of 0.4 in ternary blend cement system.At 56 days, the strength shows similar trend to 28 days

strength for concrete using ternary blend cement system. Butthe strength increases significantly in concrete usingOPC ? FA and is almost equal to respective concrete usingternary blend cement system which show the pozzolanicactivity of FA has been activated at later stage.The development of compressive strength with age for

concrete mixes using ternary blend cement system at w/bratio of 0.3 and 0.4 are shown in Figs. 9 and 10 respectively.

4.2.3 Synergic Effect and Efficiency Factor of FAand SF in Concrete Using Ternary Blend CementSystemThe cementing efficiency factor, k of a pozzolan is defined

as the number of parts of cement in a concrete mixture thatcould be replaced by one part of pozzolan without changingthe property being investigated, which is usually the com-pressive strength (Wong and Razak 2005) and synergy canbe defined as the interaction of two or more additives so thattheir combined effect is greater than the sum of their indi-vidual effects (Radlinski and Olek 2012). In the other words,

for reflecting synergic effect, the efficiency factor of SF andFA should be higher in ternary blend cement system than theefficiency factor calculated in their respective binary blendcement system.Pozzolanic activity index method (Papadakis et al. 2002),

modified Abram’s law(Wong and Razak 2005), modifiedBolomey’s equation (Bharatkumar et al. 2001; Malathy andSubramanian 2007), etc. have been used by researchers tocalculate the efficiency of different mineral admixturesindividually in their binary blends or combined efficiency intheir ternary blends.For calculating the efficiency of SF and FA individually in

ternary blend cement system, an equation was proposed byauthor based on the principle of modified Bolomey’s equa-tion for concrete using binary blend cement system. Forcontrol mix the Bolomey’s equation for compressivestrength prediction is given by following equation(Bharatkumar et al. 2001; Malathy and Subramanian 2007):

fc ¼ A1 C=Wð Þ þ A2 ð1Þ

Table 7 Efficiency factor of SF and FA in concrete using ternary blend cement system.

Days A1 A2 kSF kFA kTB k 0SF ¼ kTB � kSF k 0FA ¼ kTB � kFA7 31.13 38.23 1.485 0.378 1.056 1.568 0.399

28 26.90 -8.64 2.524 0.469 1.090 2.750 0.511

56 24.45 8.35 2.692 0.563 1.065 2.866 0.599

Fig. 11 Split tensile strength of binary and ternary mixes atw/b = 0.3.



where fc is compressive strength of concrete in MPa, C is thecement content in kg/m3, W is the water content in kg/m3

and A1, A2 are constants influenced by ingredients and age ofconcrete.It is modified by researchers for concrete using binary

blend of FA and SF as follow (Bharatkumar et al. 2001;Malathy and Subramanian 2007):

fc ¼ A1 C þ kSFPSFð Þ=Wf g þ A2 ð2Þ

fc ¼ A1 C þ kFAPFAð Þ=Wf g þ A2 ð3Þ

where PSF is SF content in kg/m3, PFA is FA content in kg/m3

and kSF, kFA are the efficiency factor of SF and FA respectivelyin their respective binary blend cement system.It can be further modified for concrete using FA and SF in

ternary blend cement system by author as given below:

fc ¼ A1 C=W þ kTB kSFPSF þ kFAPFAð Þ=Wf g þ A2 ð4Þ

where kTB is a factor representing synergic effect ofFA ? SF in ternary blend cement system.

k 0SF ¼ kTB�kSF ð5Þ

k0

FA ¼ kTB� kFA ð6Þ

where kSF0 and kFA

0 are the efficiency factor of SF and FArespectively in concrete using ternary blend cement system.A1 and A2 were obtained at the age of 7, 28 and 56 days

from regression analysis with the compressive strengthresults of control mixes. Those mixes were not considered inanalysis which resulted in very high or very low efficiencyfactor. Then using Eqs. (2) and (3) kSF and kFA were calcu-lated using results of respective concrete mixes of binaryblend cement system. Then kTB was calculated using Eq. 4with the results of mixes of ternary blend cement system.Finally efficiency factor of SF and FA in ternary blendcement system were calculated by Eqs. (5) and (6). Theresults are tabulated in Table 7.The results clearly shows that efficiency factor for SF and

FA are always higher in ternary blend cement system thantheir respective binary blend cement system, indicatingsynergic effect i.e. their combined effect in ternary blendsystem is more than the sum of their individual effects. Thesynergic effect is due to change in microstructure of hard-ened concrete (Isaia et al. 2003). The size of pores reduceddue to pozzolanic activity of mineral admixtures and fillereffect of fine particles of FA and still finer particles of SF.

4.3 Split Tensile StrengthThe results of split tensile strength also reflects similar

trend as compressive strength. As w/b ratio increases, theeffectiveness of silica fume to increase the tensile strength ofconcrete, using binary blend of OPC ? FA, is decreases inconcrete using ternary blend cement system. Strength at 7and 28 days at 0.3, 0.4 and 0.45 are compared in Figs. 11,12 and 13 respectively.The graphs are plotted between ratio of split tensile

strength, ft to compressive strength, fc vs compressivestrength for control mixes, mixes using binary blend ofOPC ? FA and mixes using ternary blend of OPC ?

FA ? SF at 28 days. Only those mixes were consideredwhose compressive strength was between 20 and 70 MPa sothat all type of mixes were having common range of strengthlevel. From Fig. 14 it is clear that for same compressivestrength level, the value of ft/fc is higher for binary blend


Fig. 14 Ratio of split tensile strength and compressivestrength vs compressive strength.

Fig. 15 Relationship between split tensile strength and com-pressive strength at 28 days.


cement system of OPC ? FA as well as ternary blendcement system. This is due to filler effect of the finer par-ticles of mineral admixtures and pozzolanic activity whichmake the concrete matrix denser and also strengthening theinterfacial transition zone between aggregate and mortar(Mullick 2007). This leads to better bonding betweenaggregate and mortar and hence tensile strength is higher.There are several empirical formulations for evaluating

splitting tensile strength ft and compressive strength fc andmost researchers achieved the expression of the type:(Neville 2000).

ft ¼ k fcð Þn: ð7Þ

where ft and fc are splitting tensile strength and compressivestrengths in MPa respectively, measured on 150 mmU 9 300 mm cylinders at 28 days, k and n are constants ofregression analysis. The value of n lies in the range of0.5–0.75.In the current study 100 mm cubes were use to measure

compressive strength. So, 100 mm cube compressivestrengths were converted to 150 mm U 9 300 mm cylinderstrengths by multiplying by a factor of 0.83 (Erhan et al.2007), Analyzing the present strength results of all concretemixes and performing regression analysis for n valuebetween 0.5 and 0.75, the best fit curve was obtained atn = 0.75 with more than 90 % confidence level by thefollowing equations:

ft;28 ¼ 0 :23 fcð Þ0:75 ð8Þ

ft;7 ¼ 0 :19 fcð Þ0:75: ð9Þ

The predicted value of split tensile strength by proposedmodel, ACI code (ACI 363R-92, State of art report on highstrength concrete (ACI Committee 363) (Reapproved 1997)and CEB-FIP model (CEB-FIP, Committee Euro-International du Beton (CEB-FIB), CEB-FIB Model Code1990) are compared in Fig. 15. It is clear that ACI code overestimate the tensile strength at lower compressive strengthand under estimate at higher strength. Similarly CEB-FIPmodel also under estimate the tensile strength at higher level.Proposed equation predicts tensile strength closer toexperimental value at higher strength level. Also Selim(2008), Bhanja and Sengupta (2005) used higher n value of0.717 and 0.948 respectively.

5. Conclusions

1. Ternary blend cement system of OPC ? FA ? SFcompromise a better choice than binary blend cementsystem of OPC ? SF to get strength comparable tocontrol mix due to its economical and environmentalbenefits. The superplasticizer dose is lesser and per-centage replacement of OPC is larger in concrete usingternary blend of OPC ? FA ? SF.

2. If the cement content of control mixes at each w/b ratiois kept constant then as w/b ratio decreases higherpercentage of OPC can be replaced with FA ? SF to getstrength comparable to respective control mix.

3. If early strength is desirable the OPC replacement levelin concrete using ternary blend system is limited to20 % with combination of 10 % SF and 10 % FA.

4. If early strength is not the barrier, it is possible toachieve the same 28 days strength of concrete withadopting a mix with lower w/b ratio and higherreplacement level of OPC with SF ? FA, instead ofadopting a mix with higher w/b ratio and lowerreplacement level.

5. In concrete using ternary blend of FA ? SF, 20 %replacement level of OPC with combination of 10 % SFand 10 % FA showed higher strength than control mixfor all w/b ratios and at all ages.

6. The efficiency factor for SF and FA were always higherin ternary blend cement system than their respectivebinary blend cement system, indicating synergic effect.

7. The split tensile strength of concrete using ternary blendcement system was higher than control mix due tostrengthening of interfacial transition zone due to fillereffect and pozzolanic reaction.

Acknowledgments

Authors are thankful to Elkem India, Mumbai and BASFChemicals, Mumbai for providing material support for thisresearch work.

Open Access

This article is distributed under the terms of the CreativeCommons Attribution License which permits any use,distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided theoriginal author(s) and the source are credited.

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vol.7, no.3, pp.239–249, september 2013 doi 10.1007/s40069

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